The latest round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict has claimed over 20,200 lives on the Palestinian side since its outbreak on October 7, as Israel claimed to expand ground military operation in the Gaza Strip.
The death toll of Palestinians from Israeli attacks in Gaza has reached 20,258, with 53,688 others injured since October 7, according to the latest data released by the Gaza-based Health Ministry on Saturday.
Over the past 24 hours, 201 Palestinians were killed, and 368 others were injured in Israel’s raids in Gaza, according to the data.
The Israeli Defense Ministry reported Saturday that in the past 24 hours, five Israeli soldiers were killed in the ground military operation carried out in the Gaza Strip.
According to statistics from Israeli media, 144 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground military operations in the Gaza Strip so far.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday claimed that the current focus of its strikes is Hamas’ underground tunnels, and that it will further expand military operations in the southern Gaza Strip in the next few days.
Hamas said on the same day that the organization had lost contact with the armed personnel responsible for guarding several detainees, and that these detainees were likely to have died in Israeli attacks.
An IDF spokesman said that so far, the Israeli army has destroyed or seized approximately 30,000 weapons in the Gaza Strip.
Since Oct. 7, Israel has conducted a large-scale military operation against Hamas in Gaza, named “Iron Swords,” in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel by Hamas.
(Reuters)